Limiting state investment to 10%, Google’s Lunar XPrize aims to encourage private investment in space technology and development of low-cost systems for space exploration. Bangalore-based startup TeamIndus, the only Indian team in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition, is building a privately funded Spacecraft capable of soft landing on the Moon by 2017. TeamIndus was one of five teams selected to compete in the Milestone prizes and successfully won $1M as a Milestone prize for its landing technology, last year, reports Tech Crunch.
Funded by over a dozen high net worth individuals, and supported by private companies such as Larsen & Toubro and Tata Communications, TeamIndus will book a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle’s launch slot with the Indian Space and Research Organization.
“TeamIndus’ mission is a celebration of all things great about India – the audacious goal, the young bright engineers, the can-do entrepreneurial spirit, partners who commit their resources, and the new breed of world-class entrepreneurs who have supported our mission – all of whom are united by a vision to deliver a best-in-class technology outcome entirely out of India,” declares the company website.
Rahul Narayan, founder of Axiom Research Labs and head of TeamIndus, says, “Our long-term vision is to become a deep-tech aerospace company which solves system level problems. GLXP is the first marquee manifestation of the kinds of problems we’d like to solve,” reports Outlook Business.
